Air line respirator filter cartridge holder



June 16, 1953 c. J. 'BOYER A-IR LINE RESPIRATOR FILTER CARTRIDGE HOLDER Filea Oct 26. 1951 R AZ m ..r M /M rid/ .6

Patented June 16, 1953 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIR. LINE RESP IRATOR FILTER CARTRIDGE 7 r HOLDER Charles J-nBoyer, West Reading, Pa., assignor to.

- Will s0n Products, 1110., Reading, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania ApplicationOctober 26, 1951, Serial No. 253,341

3 Claims. (Cl. 128-146) with no breathing resistance and thus provide himself with protection against heavy concentrations of dust, fumes, mists, and vapors in occupations such as welding, paint spraying, flame cleaning and metallizing. Air pressure-supplied respirators are also useful for protection against respiratory hazards encountered in the manufacture of'storage batteries, paints and glazes, as-

bestos and by-products, in cement and chemical plants, in foundries, granite quarries and many other industries. I

As a safety measure, it is desirable to provide the above described air line respirator with means for allowing inhalation of filtered air even at times when'by accident orotherwise there is a break in the compressed air line. While'small ports and openings are adequate'for breathing in air when. under pressure, such openings provide considerable breathing resistance to air flow when the air is no longer under pressure. Attempts'have been made to enlarge these air ports as much as possible so as to lower such breathing resistance at times when the air is not under pressure, as when there is a rupture of the compressed air line. However, these attempts have not met with success inasmuch as there are definite upper limits in size of these ports or openings, therefore even with maximum enlargement there is considerable breathing resistance when the air pressure is removed.

i An object of the present invention is to provide an air line respirator system with a novel means for allowing in-fiow of a considerable volume of filtered air even when the'air pressure has been removed, such as occurs when theair line is ruptured.

A more specific object of the present; invention is to provide a novel filter cartridge holder or container having a supplementary air'inlet opening which is operable only when air pressure is removed from the line to enable inhalation of considerable quantities of filtered air without breathing resistance when there is a rupture in the airline orwhen pressure in the line is for or cover '2.

any other reason lowered or reduced to atmospheric pressure.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

'Figure l is a front elevational view of an air line respirator cartridge holder or container embodying the principles of the present invention; Figure 2' is a side elevational view of the filter cartridge holder or container shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken through line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure. 4 is a bottom view of the perforated ;screw cap or cover 2 shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, and

Figure 5v is a somewhat schematic view of a complete airline respirator system including the filter cartridge holder or container shown in Figures l to 4, inclusive.

Referring more particularly to Figures 1, 2 and 3, numeral 1 denotes a substantially cup-shaped filter cartridge holder or container having screw threaded to the mouth or opening thereof a cap Container I has rigidly secured to therear face thereof a clip 3-which may be supported on a belt 4 worn by the wearer of the respirator. Extending radially outwardly and downwardly from the holder or container l is an air regulating valve 5' into which air under pressure will flow from an air inlet connector 6, which con- ,neotor has a coupling element 6d which can be readily pulled away from the casing of valve 5 by means of a slip fit connection. Within the couplingelement 611 there is provided a one-way acting ball element which is actuated by a spring (not shown) for normally closing the outlet of coupling element 6a. as shown and described in detail in U. S. Patent No. 1,915,553, issued to Harry F. Shindel, entitled Pipe Coupling. As described in this patent, the above described ball may be progressively unseated to adjust the valve opening by means of a knurled screw, such as l, which may be locked in any suitable position- 'by a second knurled screw ,8 whose hub portion is forced against the outer surface of the housing of the regulating valve 5. Thus any desired amount of air flow may be obtained by suitably adjusting screw 1. However, if the wearer wishes to leave the place where the air line is located,

he may simply pull coupling element 6a away from the housing of valve-5 and in sodoing, the compressed air line will be automatically closed by seating of the ball valve within coupling element 6a and at the same time, outside air may be breathed in through the opening in valve 5. This operation will be more clearly understood by referring to Figure 5 which shows that connector 6 is connected to an air line 9 which in turn is connected through a suitable air relief valve (not shown) and pressure reducing valve In and gauge H to any suitable source of compressed air, such as a compressed 'air tank I2. The outlet connector l8 at the rear of the holder or container 1 is connected to an air line l3 which leads to the interior of a respirator face piece I4 of any well known type which is worn about the nose and mouth of the wearer.

In operation, so long as air line 9 contains air under pressure, this air will flow in the path indicated by arrows I! (see Figure 3). Within container I there is provided a shoulder portion having seated thereon a sealing gasket l6 against which is pressed a peripheral edge of the filter unit [5 which may be a chemical cartridge or other suitable type of filterunit. A wellknown type of chemical cartridge is shown having ahollow cylindrical casing filled with a chemical filtering material and having perforated end walls in the form of wire gauze or otherpervious materials to enable air to flow. through the cylindrical container parallel to .the axis thereof. vAs will appear more clearly in Figure '4, thercap 2 has integrally formed on its inner surface a plurality of projections 2a separated by .arcuate cutouts. 2b. Projections 2a are forced against the'opposite peripheral edge of the cartridge 15 by screwing .of cap 2 as shown more clearly in Figure 3. The arcuate cutouts or openings 2?) enable air to flow in the directionindicated by arrows ll, that is,

first along the outer wall of the cartridge. 15,.

thence through openings 2b.and into the left side of the cartridge as shown in Figure. '3, fthence flowing through the cartridge so as to filter the air. Filtered air thus flows through the right side opening of cartridge 15 and into theoutlet connector [8 which is connected to the respirator face piece.

n the cover portion of the cap or cover 2., there is mounted a flexible diaphragm I9 of rubber or any other suitable flexible material and which is somewhat disk-shaped, having a central inte-' gral portion 19a which is mounted in a hole formed centrally of the cap 2. A plurality of apertures 20 are provided in cap =2. However, so long as air is under pressure inline 9., this pressure is suffi-cient so that at all times it willpush the diaphragm 19 to the closed position as shown in Figure 3, that is, so that the periphery thereof will be in sealing engagement with the inner surface of the cap 2.

However, in the event there is a rupture 'in air line 9, or if for any other reason the pressure is removed from line 9, such as in the case where a worker pulls connector 6a away from the valve.

housing of valve 5, the immediately surrounding air will enter the opening of valve and air will still flow in the direction shown by arrows l1. However, since this air is no longer under pressure, considerable breathing resistance will be offered when attempting to force this air by inhalation of the wearer through cartridge l5,

therefore making breathing quite diflicult and tiring to, the wearer.

This breathing resistance is overcome by an outstanding feature of the present invention which is in the form of a large supplementary air inlet such as provided by the flexible diaphragm I 9 and openings 20 because since the air pressure is no longer suflic'iently high to keep the diaphragm arrows I1 A considerably greater amount of air will be breathed in through holes 20 than through the path indicated by arrows l1 since a considerable greater area opening is provided in holes 20.

Therefore, the wearer will not encounter breathing resistance evenwhen air pressure no longer exists in inlet connector 6.

Of course, other designs of diaphragm or oneway acting valves may be provided instead of that shown on cap 2. Also, other types of filters may be substituted .for. :chemical cartridge .15, such-as a hollow filter .padof felt or other "suitable filtering material.

.Thus it will be seen that I have provided an eflicient air line respirator system involving a novel cartridge holder or container which is constructed so as to enable the breathing -in,:from the surrounding atmosphere, of :a copious supply of filtered air withoutbreathing resistance, even when the air pressure in the line has been reduced to atmospheric pressure, therefore overcoming the disadvantages of previous devices in which considerable breathing resistance was provided because of limitations of the openings in the air inlet valve.

While I haveillustrated and described a "certain specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that-this is by way ofillustration only, and that various-changes and modifications may be-made within the contemplation ofmy'invention and within the scope of the following "claims.

I claim: I

1.-In an air-linerespiratorsystem, including a respirator face piece, having an air inlet hose, a filter unit connected to said hose-and which is supplied by air under pressure, Jsai-d filter unit.

outer cap, said cap having a one=way acting inhalation valve which is normally closeds'as the a result of airv pressure in said system :andwhich is opened only as .aconsequence of removal of said air'pressure and inhalation by the wearer-of the respirator face piece, .said. container having passageways for allowing air now through-said filter unit irrespective of the. presence or absence of said air, pressure.

.2. Apparatus as recited .in claim 1 whereinisai'd container is of substantially cup-shape and wherein said cover is perforated and is :screw threadedly mounted on :said container and wherein said one-way acting valve is inttlre form of a flexible diaphragm disposed opposite air; inlet openings formed on the face of said cover and which is centrally supported on said cover so as.

to permit a supplementary air inlet flow through said openings :only when the air pressure in said line has been reduced to substantially atmosphericpressure. I V g 3. In an air line respirator system having a respirator'face piece, an air line connected there- 7 to and a'source of compressedair for providing air under pressure in said line, a filter unit in said line compr'isingin combination, a -substantially cup-shaped container enclosing a filter car tridge and-having ascrew threaded cap for-firm- 5 7 1y; supporting the cartridge in sealing engagement with a bottom portion of said container, said cap being engageable with a peripheral portion of said cartridge in a manner so as to allow air under pressure to flow from said air line along the outer walls of said cartridge, thence through the joint between the cap and cartridge, thence through the cartridge unit so as to become filtered, and finally to the respirator face piece, said cap having a plurality of holes on'its face and having mounted thereon a one-way acting diaphragm disposed opposite said plurality of holes by air under pressure in said air line but which upon removal of said air under pressure will become References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 804,272 Schwarz Nov. 14, 1905 1,304,374 Robeson May 20, 1919 2,515,425 Restemeier July 18, 1950 

